Heating means for mineral oils.



C. E. GRAVES.

HEATING MEANS FOR MINERAL OILS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 2l, 1915.

Patented Feb. 22, 1916.

FFICE.

CNcE E Guam, or WELISVILIE, NEW Yonx,`-AssGNoR or ONE-HAL? To EDGAR MEBSQN, oF WELLSVILLEfNEW YORK.

HEATING MEANS FOR MINERAL GILS0 Application fled April :21, 1915.

T o a'IZ uri/wm t may concern.'

Be it known that I, CLARENCE E. GRAVES, a citizen of the United States, residing at lVellsville, in the county of Allegany and State of New York, have invented eert-ain new and useful Improvements in Heating Means for Mineral Oils, of which the following is a speeiication, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

In the handling of crude petroleum as delivered from thel wells` for marketing thel same, it is customary to store temporarily the oil as pumped or flowed from the several Wells on a given oil property, or lease, in a tank of a size sufiicient to hold the production for some little periml, and then at intervals as the tank becomes Filled or nearly so to have the tank run into the main or trunk oil lines by the gager. Such temporary storage tanks on the individual oil properties are of varying sizes according to the products of the respective leases be ing however ordinarily of a capacity of fifty barrels or upward.,v

Since it is a- Well known property of crude petroleum .to thicken so as to be only ernitluid when chilled.v itis nee to heat the oil contents of terriporary storage tanks in colder Weather so as to render the oil sutliclently Huid to be readily 4"run into the trunk pipe lines. For this purpose it has been customary to ste-ain the filled tanks i by passing steam througli pipes in said tanks until the oil heated to the requisite degree. This has been a relatively expensive and troublesome method requiring insiderv able piping from a n'aore or less distant source of steam supply, for 'which also of Course provision had to be made in the form of a suitable pressure boiler. This stearaing of the tanks has hitherto been the only resort for the purpose of 'heating the tanks for the reason that it has not been considered `praeticable to associate a comin tion burner or combustion Chamber directly "v'itl'i the oil storagev tanks lz-eeause :is the Contents of the tanks become heated the more volatile por tions of the Crude. petroleum, e., the naphtha, -gasolene, etc.5 with a: .low flashing point are givenol` in Considerable quantity from the surface of the oilin the tank', Creating a danger area Where oombustiorfior e plosion is Very likely or pertain, to besar when' there isv vany "highly heated line for the products of combustion; or funi-es of the SIJu-,ccatioxt` of Letters Patent.

and vtirzxslggi the bottomy of the 'tank' Patented. 191:1 Serial No. 22,913.

products of oonmustion7 in the neighborhood of this danger zone thus ChargedAvith inf flammable gases. A *l The prime object of the present invention is to provide means whereby-a eonlbiition is full or well filled with oil, there is noportion of said fines exposed in the danger Zone above the surface of., the oil, norany possilnhty ordischarge of the products lof Combustion in proximity to suchv danger zone,y

thus doing away withepossibility of explosion or Combustion bythe ignting of Ythe gases produced and given ott' from the top surface of the oil where they areA of. course mixed 'ith the atmospheric air to produce a highly inflammable mixture.

'The invention will he better understood from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and will be thereafter pointed out in the. appended Claims.

Referring to the drawing#x rthe viewpze' sented shows partly in elevationgand. partly 4in section an oil storage tank equipped with a Combustion Chamber and burner with ues leading therefrom through the .lowerpart of.

the tank only in accordance ivgith Invin- Vention. l .K

ln the drawings a temporarystoragetank crude petroleum or the like is indicated sov sus4

at of any desired capacity, usuallypi ,from

tiftyeto'one hundred Fifty barrels. Agr/inlet pipe i2 this tenir, there being in practice. one. or more o these pipes discharging from the several Wells on the -oil property.V A discharge pipe is indicated at l3 leading from the bottom of the tank to a trunkpipe'line or other point of discharge. v y

Leadingup fronizthe bottom of theft@ 'and as shown., toward one 'Side thereof,l is an upwardlt disposed iuefl shown asz'of. tnbu end tar forro in eoni'munication at its loA is shown as delivering into the top of combustion chamber C, hereins'hown as constituted by a shallow trenclrunderneath the main central portion of the tank with a `banking around the peripheryof the tank to inclose the same, this' trench being usually 4 produced in the earth on which the tank is set.V The ue i extends upwardly toa point as shown somewhat below the-vertical center ofthe tank and always well below, the top of the tank and has as shown a horizontal continuation 5 extending out through the side of the tank where it is led oil" to a remotedischarge ,point'by'an upward flue extension 6, preferably having a suitable dam `per 7 interposed therein. Y It will be understoodgtliat the vertical flue portion 4' and the horizontal flue portion 5 arel ina broader sense'- In'erely illustrative and intended to typify fanysuitable flue path, preferably circ uitous? :leading from the combustion chainber Cdthrough the body of the oil in the loweriportion of lthe tank and so -arranged as to be entirely in the lower portion 'thereof, and passing'outward from the tank to a relatively remote point without 'having any po'rtionexposed within the upper portion of the tank A"soas to-be liable to cause ignition ofthe vola'tile fumes given off from the surface of the oil. The flue portions 4, 5 may be of any suitable diameter according to the size of the tank and of the combustion chamber employed, though a diameter of about six inches lis generally best adapted for the purpose.` The outward iue extensionf'may be of a somewhat smaller dialneter than the flue portions 4, 5 andlinf' conjunction with the damper-7 when this is used, may retard the passage'of the products ployed in the combustion chamber C but as s'hivln, and'preferably lwhen practicable, I employ` a hydro-carbon burner 8 either discharging natural gasor a spray of oil under pressur int-o the combustion chamber, preferably at one 'end thereof and adjacent the side'fof the tank 1 opposite the opening of the fine 4 so that the major portion of the base of the tank will be 4subjected primarily to the heating medium. Then as the products off' combustion pass up through the flues 4, 5 still more of the heat thereof is of course given ofil intothe body of the oil in the tank which is thereby heated to 'the requisite extent in a relatively short time with a maximum conservatiQn; of the heat employed, it being noted that the. only path of escape for the products of combustion as discharged from the flame of the b urner 8 is across the bottom of the tank and'thence through the relatively large and circuitous flue passages 4, 5. It will of course'be understood that this heating means is em ployed only preparatory to the' running of the tank contents, i. e., when the tank is filled or ne'arly so, and that` the burner 8 will be turned off so that the flues 4, 5 andV the bottom of the tank will coolas the level of the oil in the tank lowers and thus before the top of the flue 5 is uncovered, its temperaturewill be low enough so that thereis no dange'r of ignition of the gases from this source. Thus it will be understood while the burner 8 is in operation the flues 4, 5,

and the bottom of' the tank subject to impingement by the products of combustion are kept relatively cool by contact with theV body of the oil being heated and this-*fact in connection with the further lfact that the free gaseous products, i. e., the vnaphtha, eter, are only liberated and mixed with air aboveV the top of the oil in the tank insures against danger of ignition or explosion in the practice of my invention since by no possibility can any of the products of combustion or any heated flue portion be exposed above the 'silrface of the oil in `the tank while it is being heated, only, requiring of course that the tank shall be fairly- Lwell-'filled as is always the case inpractice beforeit is run, by the gager. Thus as shown the tank is only about two-thirds'full'of oil but the surface thereof is still -considerably above the top of the Hue 5. In practice the top o f the tankl`will also usually be covered with a tight cover, thus further insuring againstthe mingling of any hot products ofcombustion with the gases freed from the surface of the oil.

I do not desire to be limited to thel precise structural details herein exhibited since these may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes of the invention, and I therefore desire the present embodiment toA be considered as illustrative Aand not restrictive, reference being had to the appended claims rather than to the foregoing description to indicate the scope of the invention. i

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Let-v ters Patent is:

1. A storage tank fo'r crude petroleum or the like, having a combustion chamber associated therewith, and a'delivery flue from said combustion chamber leading in a cir cuitous path through the lower portion only of the interior of said tank, and Awith a delivery connection to aA relatively remote point without the tank, all portions of said flue within the tank being qbelow the normal level ofthe oil therein to be heated thereby.

Q. A storage tank for crude petroleum and the like, having a combustion chamber thereunder arranged for the products of combustion to impinge on the bottom of the tank, and a iue leading upward from said mote point, said combustion chamber andflue being so arranged that exposure of the products Yof combustion or of any heated flue portion in 'the danger zone above the normal surface of the oil in said tank is prevented.

3. Astorage tank for crude petroleum or the like, having an inlet pipe at its top and a discharge pipe at its bottoni, a combustion chamber associated with the lower portion of said tank and having a combustion burner arranged to direct products of combustion against an area of the outer surface of said tankl a flue leading in a circuitous path from said combustion chamber upward into said `tank and outward laterally therefrom and continued entirely in the lower portion of said tank, and an outer stack extension of said flue leading upward to a relatively re. mote point.

4. A storage tank for crude petroleum or the like, having an inlet pipe at its top and a discharge pipe at its bottom. a combustion chamber associated with the lower portion of said tank and having a combustion burner arranged to direct products of combustion against an area of the outer surface of said tank, a iue leading in a circuitous path from said combustion chamber upward into said tank and outward laterally therefrom and contained entirely in the lower portion of said tank, an outer stack extension of said fine leading upward to a relatively remote point, and a damper for controlling the draft created by said stack extension.

5; A storage tank for crude petroleum or the like, having an inlet pipe at its top and a discharge pipe at its bottom, a relatively Shallow combustion chamber formed underneath the major portion of said tank, a combustion burner at one end of said chamber and adjacent one Side of said tank, a flue extending upward within the tank from said combustion chamber adjacent the other end thereof and at the other side of said tank, a horizontally extending continuation of said flue leading laterally outward of said tank and contained entirely in the lower portion thereof. and an upward stack extension for said tlue at the outside of the tank for de` livering the products of combustion at a rel atively remote point.

In testimony whereof I hereunto alixmy signature in the presence of two witnesses.

CLAREICE E. (rRAVES.

Witnesses:

Jnssn L. GRANTIER, FLORENCE RITTER. 

